66 . MOPAN 2017-18 ASSESSMENTS . UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST Training on human rights and protection has been delivered across the agency; for example, in 2017, 195 staff were trained on protection and 2016 staff received human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance (in relation to education) top up training. In 2018, 5,609 staff were trained on protection. There is limited evidence regarding the financial resources allocated to human rights. MI 2.1d Evidence confidence 1, 2, 3, 22, 35, 40, 42, 44, 47, 81, 87, 134, 135, 136 High confidence OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT Assets and capacities organised behind strategic direction and intended results, to ensure relevance agility and accountability KPI 3: Operating model and human/financial resources support relevance and agility KPI score Highly satisfactory 3.22 UNRWA’s biggest asset to deliver on its mandate and achieve strategic objectives is its workforce. The People Strategy 2016-21 is clear on the importance of both organisational culture and an empowered staff group at all levels in the organisation if the Agency is to maximise its impact. UNRWA is committed to ensuring that the capacities and capabilities of its staff are aligned with the Agency’s mandate and has reviewed staffing requirements in each of its divisions and put forward an action plan to ensure that the staffing resources available are equal to the operational needs. Internal restructuring exercises having been completed (education, health), or are being planned/ being implemented (RSS) at HQ and field level with the clear intent of better aligning staff to key functions and to meet the needs of a more future facing UNRWA. UNRWA’s approach to protection from a structural and resource alignment perspective remains work in progress as currently only 5 per cent of the costs needed for protection and 2 core staff (Chief of Protection Division and Head of Gender Section) are from the programme budget, and the rest from project funding. UNRWA is active in ensuring that the services it delivers are in sync with changing demands and the operating environment of the population group it serves through a strong commitment to continuous workforce planning and increasing professionalisation. UNRWA’s Staff performance management system is clearly set out but mixed in its application. The three-point scale of the system is not considered sufficiently nuanced. Strategic HR management is constrained by an environment where there is heightened anxiety amongst staff regarding redundancies, recruitment freezes and concerns over job security. The challenges of staff security and safety are increasing, and although UNRWA demonstrates the ability to reconfigure its staffing structures and skills deployment to meet the needs of emergency situations, this flexibility may become harder to manage as emergency situations become more protracted. Strategic HR management is also constrained by budget short falls, underfunding and unpredictability of funding month to month or year to year. Given UNRWA’s current financial situation, resource mobilisation receives significant emphasis across the organisation and there is accountability for this at the highest levels with staff ‘pulling out all stops’ to address the funding crisis. UNRWA’s lack of funding presents a strong threat to the Agency and professionalizing resource mobilisation is new territory for UNRWA. UNRWA has a well-reasoned, developed, and increasingly diverse approach to resource mobilisation, consistent with the Agency’s core mandate and strategic priorities and a business model of an Agency with a temporary mandate. The agency is increasingly looking at new, sustainable funding models, engaging new donors and has implemented extensive efficiency measures. The RMS is reported against on a regular basis against detailed resource mobilisation targets. UNRWA has clear delegation of authority between HQ and Field Offices with well laid out systems and processes – anchored in the MTS, Strategic Response Plans, AOPs and staff performance compacts - to support resource allocation and programming decisions at the field level. Field offices engage in planning and reporting processes regularly with HQ and targets are set collaboratively rather than imposed upon Field Offices. The extreme financial position in recent years has led to some centralised micro-management of expenditure and some understandable tension between HQ and the Field. Notwithstanding this, the core programmes are still driven by the needs of each field context and HQ provides the overall guidance and support – including a data informed challenge – to fields pursuing their own set of programmatic results.